YouTube is one of the most powerful free video marketing platforms that allows users who can put their videos in front of the world. If you have great video content, you can grow your audience faster and increase your video views on YouTube.
Hope we all heard the proverb “Don’t judge a book by its cover” many times in our life. This is very true when it comes to videos on YouTube because a youtube thumbnail image is the first thing we see while playing video and it describes the video completely at first sight.
90% of the best-performing videos on YouTube have a custom thumbnail!
We all know how Youtube creators work hard, make videos and upload on this platform for their viewers. It requires more time to make quality video content and add amazing liveliness to make it all the more outwardly engaging. We often see such videos ending up with fewer views and less engagement rates. Have you thought about why? The answer is a very simple and essential part of any video marketing – the video thumbnail.
What is YouTube Thumbnail?
YouTube thumbnail is a reduced file size image representing your videos that give users a better understanding of what exactly you’re going to see. It’s a good practice to create a thumbnail art before uploading a YouTube video or you can choose a thumbnail from the three choices automatically suggested (if account verified) by YouTube.
In this article, we will guide you on how to add or change video thumbnail on youtube easily on a step-by-step process.
How To Change Thumbnail on YouTube
If you’re not satisfied with the auto-generated three GIF thumbnails created by YouTube, you can upload a new customized thumbnail to your video. If you’re uploading a new video, follow the below steps on how to add a customized video thumbnail.
- Go to the YouTube website or App and Sign-in by your Gmail address.
- In the upper right corner, click your profile photo.
- In the YouTube Studio (beta) app, tap Menu -> then Videos.
- Select the video you want to edit the thumbnail or video title.
- Tap Edit thumbnail.
- Click the custom thumbnail to upload a custom video thumbnail from an image on your device.
- Finally, click on the save button and update the new thumbnail for your video.
You can also change the youtube thumbnail after uploading a video. Follow the above same steps and change a custom thumbnail for your already published video on youtube. Users can upload video thumbnail on their android mobile and iPhone youtube creator app too.
YouTube Thumbnail Not Updating
If you’re a youtube creator, you’ve probably experienced some minor issues. One of them is the Youtube thumbnails not showing and you can see a dull grey square on your video. In this case, the problem can be caused by some factors such as cache and cookies, bugs, add-on, extensions, or it can also be a server error and hopefully, it will be updated within a day.
To fix this issue, try to upload the thumbnail image in incognito mode, clear cache, and youtube history, and follow the youtube thumbnail video best practices. If you still can’t change the thumbnail on youtube, contact youtube support or checkout forums and post your issues on Reddit.
YouTube Video Thumbnail Size 2021
YouTube’s help center gives the top five important best practices when it comes to YouTube thumbnail images. If you follow these guidelines, you will see your YouTube channel’s success.
- The best YouTube thumbnail size is 1280 pixels by 720 pixels.
- Make sure your thumbnail size is a minimum of 640 pixels wide.
- Thumbnail images should be under 2MB.
- The best video thumbnail Image formats are JPG, GIF, or PNG.
- YouTube thumbnail dimensions use an aspect ratio of 16:9.
